For the third weekend in a row we have a European Tour darts event to enjoy with Germany again the country of focus as the European Darts Grand Prix is played out in Sindelfingen. After Michael van Gerwen edged out Mensur Suljovic in the final in Muelheim last week all eyes will be on the stage to see if anyone can stop the Green Machine this weekend.
With some bigger events coming up in the next few weeks the tournament lacks a few big names but the fact van Gerwen is in the field will ensure the Dutch crowds are happy. Peter Wright is another popular player.
Recent Winners
2015 – Kim Huybrechts
2014 – Mervyn King
The Format
I’m sure you’re used to this format by now but if you are not then 32 qualifiers will face off against each other on Friday for the right to face the 16 seeds in the last 32 on Saturday. The remainder of the tournament from the last 16 through to the final is played out across two busy sessions of action on Sunday. All matches are the best of 11 legs.
Top Quarter
Michael van Gerwen is housed in this part of the draw and he will not only be expected to come through this quarter but go on and win the tournament. The other seeds in his quarter are Steve Beaton, Gerwyn Price and the man van Gerwen beat to win last weekend Mensur Suljovic.
On the face of it without knowing the home nation qualifiers yet the qualifiers look relatively tame in this quarter although Alan Tabern is a blast from the past who has made it through to the tournament. Darren Webster is dangerous on his day.
Second Quarter
Defending champion Kim Huybrechts is the main seed in this part of the draw. He is joined in terms of seeds by Michael Smith, Stephen Bunting and Alan Norris so this should be a heavy scoring and competitive quarter.
Andy Boulton is one of the qualifiers in this section of the draw and there are a number of European qualifiers including Jeffrey de Graaf but it would be a surprise if the four seeds don’t battle it out in this section on Sunday.
Third Quarter
Peter Wright heads the field in this section but this is another competition portion of the draw. James Wade, Jelle Klaasen and Joe Cullen are the other seeds and any of them are capable of deep in the tournament.
Robbie Green, Brendan Dolan and Christian Kist are among those who will be in the qualifiers battling it out to face the seeds on Friday. Arron Monk comes into this tournament off the back of a run in the Challenge Tour recently so he could be dangerous.
Fourth Quarter
Ian White is surprisingly the top seed in the bottom quarter this weekend which suggests that this might be the weakest part of the draw. Dave Chisnall’s late withdrawal is the reason for that. Benito van de Pas, Terry Jenkins and Simon Whitlock complete the seeds here.
James Wilson is one of the qualifiers with Devon Petersen and they will meet on Friday for the right to face White on Saturday. Raymond Barneveld is the qualifier from the European event on Thursday night. Joe Murnan is another one among the qualifiers here.
Betting
I’m going to go double Dutch for my picks this week with both of my outrights coming from Holland and they are both in the bottom half as well. Once again I’m going to avoid having to take on Michael van Gerwen too early even though he has it much tougher to make it to the final this weekend.
The first bet is on Raymond Barneveld. He hasn’t been priced up everywhere at the time of writing because it is only he who has confirmed that is in this tournament but he has qualified and he will take his position in the more open looking bottom quarter. Barneveld will be looking to get some form going ahead of the major events coming up this season and he looks to have a nice draw to do that.
We know Barneveld performs in the big events and while this might not be a big event overall it certainly is for him as he needs some momentum to take forward. Given that he won’t face a top 10 player in the world rankings until at least the semi-finals this seems like a good weekend to back him.
The other bet is on Jelle Klaasen, a man who looked on absolute fire last weekend before he ran into Michael van Gerwen in the quarter final. Klaasen averaged a phenomenal 107.11 in that match and still lost it but those were the kind of averages he was throwing all weekend. His two matches prior to that saw him average 111.23 and 106.68. Anything like that this weekend makes him a danger for a lot longer given that he’s in the opposite half to van Gerwen.
Tips
Back R.Barneveld to win European Darts Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Klaasen to win European Darts Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
